Honeybees at the COC

The Canadian Opera Company is delighted to be part of the ever-growing support of honeybees, Currently we host seven hives onthe roof of our opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Follow the honeybees' progress on Parlando, with visits and posts from beekeeper Fred Davis!

The Cuddle Death

A technique used by bees when threatened by an intruding insect (a hornet, for example) into their hives is "balling." They surround the offender in a soft ball of bees, their body heat smothering the enemy effectively. This also occurs when when the hive wishes to rid itself of an old queen. It's referred to as "balling the queen" or the "cuddle death."

Update from Fred: Nectar Flow!

Beekeeper Fred Davis updates us on the honeybees' progress:

On May 31 I noticed that the bees were creating a lot of wax foundation and filling the cells with some golden nectar and even honey. So, I added the first honey super and the queen excluder to each colony. Now we will watch how fast the colonies will draw out the wax frames and fill them with honey. The queen is effectively barred from moving into the honey supers.